There are many reasons why we enjoy playing games – they’re a great way to pass the time, keep us entertained and help us to relax. What lots of people don’t realize, however, is that games can actually have a positive effect on our lives.
We’re not talking about winning money in casino games here (although that is definitely a positive!), but engaging in games can give us a positive boost in terms of mental wellness and productivity.
Essentially, by exploring games in our downtime, we end up feeling more productive and focused both at work and at home. Let’s take a look at some of the top reasons why it’s good to play games.
Top Reasons Why Games are Good For Mental Wellness and Productivity
Here are our top ten reasons why games are good for mental wellness and productivity:
- Games increase our satisfaction in the workplace
- Games help relieve stress and promote relaxation
- They will boost your mood
- Games make us pay attention and focus
- They improve work relationships
- Games can reduce pain
- They increase your ability to think outside the box
- They are good for your problem-solving skills
- Games are good with the Pomodoro technique
- They keep the brain healthy and active
Let’s take a look at these in more detail.
1. Games Increase Our Satisfaction in the Workplace
If you ask most people, they’d say that playing is something for home while work should be slaving away for at least eight hours a day. This, of course, is pretty common. As a society, we’ve been ingrained to follow this way of thinking.
However, recent studies have shown that when workers have fun at work, they look forward to it, work harder, and are off less with ill health. With this in mind, it certainly seems like adding this type of activity into the workday could produce healthier and happier workers.
2. Games Help Relieve Stress and Promote Relaxation
When we play something, we’re entirely focused on the task at hand. All our stresses and strains and our daily worries seem to fade while we’re in the zone.
It doesn’t matter if you’re playing on fast payout casinos, gamblizard.com, solitaire, Candy Crush, or good old-fashioned minesweeper (does that still exist?!), any gaming activity can help to slow your heart rate, slow down your breathing, and lower your blood pressure.
Engaging in this sort of activity for five minutes of your day can have a hugely positive impact on your life, leaving you to feel more able to manage work and home stress better.
3. Games Will Boost Your Mood
When you observe children playing, you’re guaranteed to witness lots of smiling and laughter. This is because these things boost our mood.
When we play things, our body releases endorphins, serotonin, oxytocin, and dopamine – the feel-good hormones we crave. Not only does this make us feel better, but it also reduces feelings of depression and anxiety.
4. They Make Us Pay Attention And Focus
When you have a better attention span, it means you can focus over a long period of time. With a better attention span, we can become more productive at work. Playing something means we need to concentrate, which, as a result, improves our focus.
5. Improves Work Relationships
When they are used in the workplace, they can improve social interaction as well as employee camaraderie.
Playing these things together with colleagues in a larger team or in pairs is also good for improving social skills as it means everyone learns more about one another and can develop their cooperation skills.
Having good relationships in the workplace is better for overall morale and workplace productivity.
6. They Can Reduce Pain
Yes, you read that right; games have been proven to reduce physical pain. Apparently, when engaged in immersive, fun experiences, we become distracted by what ails us due to a decreased awareness of our physical state. As well as this, the body also produces endorphins. This is a chemical that reduces pain by blocking pain signals.
7. Games Increase Your Ability to Think Outside of the Box
When you play a game, you need to be creative to come up with winning techniques and strategies. Studies have revealed that people who are more creative are generally happier and more motivated. Workplaces of all types thrive on creativity, and encouraging games can help harness these skills.
8. They Are Good For Your Problem-Solving Skills
When most people play games, they don’t win straight away. Rather, you need to develop problem-solving skills to achieve success.
The same applies to your work life and personal life. When we have good problem-solving skills, we’re better equipped to deal with new situations well, and we learn to think on our feet. Improving problem-solving capabilities through games is a great idea.
9. The Pomodoro Technique and Games
In the 1980s, Francesco Cirillo became famous for developing the Pomodoro Technique. This technique is used to break up working time into shorter periods. Cirillo developed this strategy with the aid of a tomato-shaped kitchen timer – Pomodoro means tomato in Italian.
When Cirillo’s timer went off, he’d take a short break and then restart the timer. He discovered shorter lengths of time with short breaks meant he accomplished more and stayed focused for longer. The perfect ratio was around 25 minutes working then between five and ten minutes break in between.
10. Keep the Brain Healthy and Active
Engaging your brain and keeping it healthy and active is important. This is especially important as we get older. When we do activities that require problem-solving or critical thinking, we’re actively encouraging our brains to be healthy through stimulation.
When we age, we have less and less grey matter. This gray matter is essential for your cognitive ability, emotions, and memory.
Research has shown that the more gray matter we manage to retain throughout our lives, the healthier our brains are. No matter our age, puzzles, and games are great ways of stimulating our brains to remain sharp.
Final Thoughts on Why Games are Good For Your Mental Wellness and Productivity
So, there you have it, ten reasons why games are actually good for you! Whether you decide to dabble in your lunch break or use the Pomodoro Technique to boost your productivity, you now know for sure that games aren’t bad.
Forget all the nay-sayers dismissing gaming, and you now have solid evidence to prove them wrong! Remember the key points; games actually help you to focus and pay attention; they boost your mood, improve work relationships and reduce pain.
What’s more, they’re excellent for your problem-solving skills and will keep your brain healthy and active as they help to retain gray matter as you age.
